Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to removal of dummy gate electrodes in a gate-last fabrication flow. More particularly, the present invention relates to isolation material loss during dummy gate electrode removal in a gate-last fabrication flow.
Background Information
In some modern semiconductor fabrication processes, it has been determined to be more efficient to fabricate more device parts than actually needed or wanted, and then remove the unwanted ones, rather than only fabricating the desired ones. For example, in a replacement gate or gate last transistor fabrication process, more dummy gates may initially be fabricated than actually desired. As device size continues to shrink, removal of unwanted portions may also remove some surrounding material to the detriment of yield. For example, removing dummy gate structures may result in the loss of some surrounding isolation material, for example, an inter-layer dielectric.